Indigenous Development Models for Poverty Reduction in the Philippines: Gawad Kalinga as an Emerging Model

Alex Brillantes, Jr., PhDAlex Brillantes, Jr., PhDProfessor and DeanProfessor and Dean

National College of Public Administration and GovernanceNational College of Public Administration and GovernanceUniversity of the PhilippinesUniversity of the Philippines

Presentation to the

COSLOG SeminarNational Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Tokyo, Japan31 May 2010

� Good governance� Poverty Reduction Programs and Strategies in the Philippines

� Continuous search for Indigenous Models for Poverty Reduction in the Philippines/ Local Development Models

� Gawad Kalinga (GK) as an emerging model for public administration and good governance

� Poverty as a continuing challenge among third world countries including the Philippines

� Philippines as signatory to MDG: to half poverty by 50% in 20115

� Can this be attained?� Responsibility is not of government alone. � Should have business and civil society� Gawad Kalinga may illustrate this

� Gawad Kalinga � an operationalization of good governance� an example of a poverty reduction strategy � Leads to empowerment of people� Restoration of dignity� Challenges▪ Sustainability▪ Replicability in other situations

Basic Elements Areas of ActionAccountability Public Sector Management, Public

Enterprise Management, Public Financial Management, Civil Service Reform

Participation Participation of beneficiaries and affected groups, Interface between government and private sector, decentralization of public and service delivery functions (empowerment of Local Governments), Cooperation with Non-Government Organizations

Predictability Law and Development, Legal Frameworks for Private Sector Development

Transparency Disclosure of Information

Akira Nakamura’s TAPE (Meiji University)TRANSPARENCY

ACCOUNTABILITYPARTICIPATION

EQUITY Note that Equity is an Imperative for Good

Governance

� Poverty and Slums as a way of “life” for many Filipinos

� Rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer

� Inequality, injustice� Violation of basic Human Rights� Human Rights more than political� Right to basic services: shelter, water,

livelihood,

Status Quo in UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

Need to be angry about injustice! But also recognize that something can be done about it

that’s why we are all here studying good governanceNeed to be hopefulNeed for REFORMS

A REFORM FRAMEWORK FOR GOVERNANCE

Brillantes and Fernandez (2009)

Aquino administration (1986-1992) -rural development thru the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Ramos administration (1992-1998) -economic growth-Social Reform Agenda (SRA) that included a list of flagship programs for the 20 poorest provinces of the country.

Estrada administration ( 1998-2001 - pro-poor agenda revolved around the Lingap Para sa Mahihirap ( identify the 100 poorest families in each province and city and provide them with a package of assistance thru a newly-created agency, the National Anti-Poverty Commission)

Macapagal-Arroyo administration (2001 to present)

4 components•an economic philosophy of free enterprise appropriate to the 21st century; •a modernized agricultural sector founded on social equity; •a social bias toward the disadvantaged to balance the economic development plan; •and to raise the moral standards of government and society.

POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Balisacan, 2002

Is GK one of them?

WHAT IS GAWAD KALINGA?

� Gawad Kalinga (GK) which means "to give care" is a revolutionary program initiated by the Couples for Christ (CFC) in 1995 with the end goal of rehabilitating juvenile gang members and out-of-school youth in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City, then the biggest squatters’ relocation area in the Philippines.

� "Less for self, more for others, enough for all”(GK motto)

� a movement for nation-building transforming poverty stricken areas into progressive communities with the end goal of building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years (2003-2010).

� not only building homes but building lives.� The movement goes beyond politics

Bagong Silang in birthplace of GK.

A relocation area for demolition victims coming from different squatters’ areas and the biggest barangay in the Philippines.

The FCSBRC group from the USA convincied the residents that GK is the key to the transformation of their lives, giving more than 35 homes to the families in this barangay.

A Sibol School built with the help of the Tarroza family

Presently community park lined with trees and benches has been built in an open space. It is proof that beauty abounds in the lives of the GK Kapitbahayans (residents).

San Bernardino and Riverside California GK Village, Bagong Silang, Caloocan City

Source: Gawad Kalinga Foundation

This GK Village is home to at least 20 Khmer families who used to live in a dumpsite and scavenge garbage to survive. Located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, GK Rafaella is a symbol of God’s Promise with GK: that no differences will come between his children – whether Buddhist or Catholic, young or old, Filipino or Khmer, Caucasian or Brown, CFC or non-CFC.

With GK Rafaella as one of the first stepping stones, GK will become one of the best exports of the Philippines.

Rafaella GK VillagePhnom Penh, Cambodia

Source: Gawad Kalinga Foundation

Pueblo Antonio GK Village is a legacy village of the Habana family given as a symbol of gratitude to its original tenants of 18 families for their many years of service. Each family was awarded a lot size of 300 square meters which can accommodate up to 4 houses so they are able to house their extended families. A 1,000-square meter lot was also awarded per family to be used as their productivity area where they can grow vegetables or flowers and earn from selling these. There are plans to build a “hometel”, too, for tourists and guests. On April 2007, the Reyes-Munda family saw this vision and partnered with GK and the Habana family to build the Reyes-Munda GK Village in the GK site to help complete the 64 houses.

Pueblo Antonio GK VillageSitio Habana, Brgy Catigan, Toril, Davao City

Source: Gawad Kalinga Foundation

“The rejected stones have become the cornerstones in bringing our country out of poverty and in turn this will also help all of us”

Keynote Address at the First National Congress on Good Citizenship. The fellowship provides venue to explore GK as a Model of Indigenous Governance, and is acknowledged by TM for having inspired him to write his book, Builder of Dreams, rich with stories of reinvented governance creating “art whose canvas is society”.

The GK WAY!

� "Poverty is not an economic problem, but a behavioral one.”Poverty strips people of their dignity. Force a man to live like an animal and sooner than later, he will begin acting like one. The root cause of poverty is the loss of human dignity, and this is the foundation of the work of Gawad Kalinga.

� “Slum behavior breeds slum mentality."

� Poverty is a multi-faceted problem. We know that it adversely affects the behavior and mentality of people. Living in a slum environment makes people hungry, sick, unproductive, angry, desperate and hopeless. It keeps people ignorant and is the perfect breeding ground for crime and violence. Poverty strips people of their dignity and allows prejudice to breed as others tend to look down upon the poor with pity, shame or fear.

� The root cause of poverty is not a scarcity of resources but a deep and painful lack of caring and sharing in our society. We have focused on ourselves and our loved ones, forgetting that we are all connected to each other. In reality, we are one global family. If we succeed and yet many of our people are suffering, we really have not succeeded at all. By leaving the poor behind and forgetting to be our brother’s keeper, we have not built a better world for the generations after us.

� "Poverty is not a lack of resources, but a lack of caring and sharing."

� Though you may never have experienced being homeless, hungry or hopeless, global poverty affects us all. Widespread crime and terrorism, poor waste management and environmental degradation are just some of the global issues we all face, and they are all caused by poverty!

Poverty contributes greatly to environmental degradation by forcing people to abuse natural resources to meet their basic necessities. They have lesser opportunities to learn of how they are contributing to global climate change through poor waste management. Save the poor and you are able to save the environment.

We should care because poverty cuts through cultures, continents and classes to affect you, your family and the peopleyou love. You should care because it is time for us to commit to help our communities, countries, and the single world we all share. You should care because you can, and because there are millions of fathers, mothers and children whose everyday prayers are simply that someone will.

•Community Building•Food sufficiency•Health•Environment•Infrastructure•Mabuhay (Livelihood)•Productivity•Shelter and Site Development•Values Formation / Community Empowerment•Child and Youth Development

� 2009: Global Model for Poverty Alleviation Gawad Kalinga launched GK2024, a 21-year vision which provides the roadmap towards a First World Philippines. The emerging Asian model for development is unveiled to the world at the first GK Global Summit in Boston, with friends from India and Columbia in attendance to see how this Asian model for development can be adopted to end poverty in other developing nations in the world.

� GK’s Isang Milyong Bayani (One Million Builders or GK1MB) �Global army against poverty

•the official movement of GK to involve schools and learning institutions in materializing the humanitarian goal of uplifting the living conditions of thousands of poor communities in the country.

•partnership undertaken with the school partners of GKthat serves as a think tank, movement builder, and training arm

� The GKBI in NCPAG is a work-in-progress to become a center of information to celebrate global, national and multi-sectoral Filipino convergence

� The Iskolar ng Bayan Village is a work-in-progress to showcase sustainable human development

� The insights and experience of Tony Meloto as an effective Filipino Leader is being documented as a Fellow of NCPAG

GKs presence in UPNCPAG has been seen as one way to address fraternity violence. In 2007, GK and UPNCPAG organized a Build, “From Rumbles to Rubbles,” as part of an intervention against frat violence.

UP-GK ISKOLAR NG BAYAN VILLAGEBRGY CENTRAL, COMMONWEALTH, QC

UP-NCPAG’s Graduate Students at GK Taguig

NCPAG students at the UP-GK TRIBU VILLAGE

Working together at the UP-GK Tribu Village

UP-NCPAG FAMILY WORKING WITH THE KAPITBAHAYAN (NEIGHBORS) “Building Communities to end Poverty

� “Through Kalinga Politics (politics of caring), GK encourages every public servant, especially in the town-level, to be a father and mother to their poor constituents, and help bring services and development to those that need it the most."New Politics. With GK’s template of land for the landless, homes for the homeless and food for the hungry, GK works with local chief executives to bring concrete hope to the poorest families and provide basic needs to their poor constituents. It has allowed us to raise a new breed of leaders who place the interests of the poorest citizens at the heart of the country’s development, and this synergy between the private and public sector helps to restore faith in our leaders and generate hope across all social classes.

� Visible and Quantifiable Performance in Building Slum-Free Municipalities and Cities. Local Chief Executives are encouraged to develop their towns into models of development with tangible andvisible results; inspiring greater trust and attracting greater generosity from different sectors of the society. The GK Way of building communities through bayanihan and padugo (to bleed for a cause) can also be extended into developing the entire town.

� Servant Leadership. First to serve, last to benefit. GK’s values formation among the community leaders challenges our partners ingovernment to take the posture of a humble servant placing the needs of the poor on top of their agenda. The Local Chief Executives we work with have become models of integrity that bring about positive change and inspire greatness among their constituents.

� Is GK a system through which citizens, institutions, organizations and groups in a society articulate their interests, exercise their rights, and mediate their differences in pursuit of the collective good?

� Does GK facilitate the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority to manage a nation’s affairs?Does it embrace methods thatdistribute power and manage public resources and problems?

� Do government, market and civil society play equally important and recognized roles in GK’s

�Quest for growth and development?�Environmental movement?�Globalization?�Consolidating peace?

Characteristics of GK vis-à-vis New Public Administration, Reinventing Public Administration and Governance

Key Dimensions of GK as Model of Philippine PA

Effective delivery of services as a core concept

GK as an Emerging Model for Development

Cooperation between government, business and civil society

GK as a Converging Point for Partnership

Enhancement of social equity as a key question

GK as a Template for Good Governance

GK: as an Emerging Model for Poverty Reductions

BUSINESSSECTOR

STATE/PUBLIC SECTOR

CIVILSOCIETY

The Millennium Development Goals

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Achieve universal primary education

Promote gender equality and empower women

Reduce child mortalityImprove maternal health

Eradication of HIV, malaria and other diseases

Ensure environmental sustainability

Develop a global partnership for development

GK ProgramsGK as an Emerging Model of Development GK as a Converging Point for PartnershipGK as a Template for Good Governance

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

GAWAD KALINGA PROGRAMS

• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Bayan-anihan/ Gawad Kabuhayan (Productivity / Livelihood)

• reduce child mortality • improve maternal health• combat AIDS, HIV, malaria

Gawad Kalusugan (Community Health)

• ensure environment • sustainability

Green Kalinga (Environment)

• achieve universal primary • education• promote gender equality

Sibol, Sagip and Siga (Education / Child and Youth Development

• develop a global • partnership for • development

• Mabuhay (Culture and Tourism)• GK Tatag (Community Infrastructure

/ Shelter and Site Development) • Kapitbahayan (Community

Organizing and Empowerment)

Programs of Gawad Kalinga and the MDGs

SUSTAINABLEHUMAN

DEVELOPMENT(Haq, UNDP)

INNOVATIVE, ENTREPRENEURIAL PRINCIPLES OF NEW PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

(Gaebler and Osborne)

STAGES OF GAWAD KALINGA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Equity • promote competition between service providers• redefine clients as customers and offer choices

prefer market mechanisms to bureaucratic mechanisms

• focus not only on providing public service but in catalyzing all sectors

Stage 1• Secured Land• A caretaker Person/ Team• Beneficiaries agreed to start (“KB

Enrollment”)

Empowerment • driven by goals, missions rather than rules and regulations

• empower citizens by pushing control out of the bureaucracy into the community

• decentralize authority, embrace participatory management

Stage 2• Partnerships in place• Start-up / Build-up of at least 1 of the 5

Basic Programs1. Community Infrastructures

(formerly “Shelter”)2. CYD – Child and Youth

Development3. Health4. Productivity5. Environment incoroporated in the

4 programs• “KB Build-up” (Ongoing and Formation

of KB – Kapitbahayan)

SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT(Haq, UNDP)

INNOVATIVE, ENTREPRENEURIAL PRINCIPLES OF NEW

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION(Gaebler and Osborne)

STAGES OF GAWAD KALINGA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Productivity • put energies into earning money, not just spending

Sustainability • measure the performance of agencies focusing on outcomes rather than inputs

• prevent problems before they emerge

Stage 3• Formed KB Governance Team• Showcase of at least 1 of the 7

Programs1. community infrastructure2. Child and Youth Development3. Gawad Kalusugan (Community Health)4. Bayan-anihan (Productivity)5. Mabuhay (Culture and Tourism)6. Kapitbahayan (Community

Empowerment)7. Green Kalinga (Environment)

• Mabuhay Program running (Tourism/ Culture)

BUSINESSSECTOR

STATE/PUBLIC SECTOR

CIVILSOCIETY

GK 2024

�Strengthen Local Governments and Local Autonomy?�Facilitate De-concentration through NGA’s?�EncourageDevolution by working with LGU’s?�Practice Debureaucratization as an NGO?

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

GAWAD KALINGA PROGRAMS

• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Bayan-anihan/ Gawad Kabuhayan (Productivity / Livelihood)

• reduce child mortality • improve maternal health• combat AIDS, HIV, malaria

Gawad Kalusugan (Community Health)

• ensure environment • sustainability

Green Kalinga (Environment)

• achieve universal primary • education• promote gender equality

Sibol, Sagip and Siga (Education / Child and Youth Development

• develop a global • partnership for • development

• Mabuhay (Culture and Tourism)• GK Tatag (Community Infrastructure

/ Shelter and Site Development) • Kapitbahayan (Community

Organizing and Empowerment)

Programs of Gawad Kalinga and the MDGs

�eradicating extreme poverty and hunger?�reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combatting AIDS, HIV, malaria?�ensuring environment sustainability?�achieving universal primary education?�promoting gender equality?�developing a global partnership for development?

Does GK practice:

�Accountability? �Participation?�Predictability�Transparency?

Does GK�Deliver public goods and services that will promote better quality of life in the long term?�Build capacity of individuals and institutions?�Create the appropriate policy environment?

� For whom has GK been developed? � Has GK developed and designed local and Philippine-based systems, structures and spirit?

� What characterize GK’s indigenous form of governance?

� What characterize GK’s environmental and ecological governance?

� How has GK influenced response of the public administration structures, systems and institutions in the Philippines to the broader questions of promoting accountability, transparency and participation? � What has been GK’s role in facilitating information, communication and technology to become more responsive to the stakeholders who really matter?

� How has GK’s structures, processes and institutions responded to the ever pressing problem of poverty?� What has been the impact of globalization and the response of PA structures, institutions and processes in the development and evolution of GK?� How has GK addressed the problem on maldistribution where those who have less in life should have more in governance and public administration?

� And how can we develop indigenous PA practices of Gk in order to be replicated and further mainstreamed as good practices of governance and development in a venue of cooperation, trust, and partnership with various stakeholders? � And how can the teaching, research and publication of GK respond to the above?

Is it an emerging development poverty reduction model?

The Philippine experience has shown that it indeed is.

Arigato!Salamat!

Thank you!